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Inventory of the Land Conservation Values of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands

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Inventory of the Land Conservation Values of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands INVENTORY OF THE LAND CONSERVATION VALUES OF THE HOUTMAN ABROLHOS ISLANDS Department of Fisheries OCTOBER 2003 Inventory of the Land Conservation Values of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands Coordinated by Jo McCrea Final version: July 2003 Fisheries Management Paper No. 151 ISSN 0819-4327 Main Cover picture: Keru Island (Wallabi Group) B. Bachman This photograph may only be used for purposes expressly authorised by the Department of Fisheries. For any other usage, contact Bill Bachman on (03) 9882 2461. Back Cover picture: Noddies in flight. Dr Chris Surnam Inset pictures: L to R: Sea lion pup, environmental mooring - Turtle Bay, and sooty tern on Pelsaert Island. (Pics. Shaun Sims and Dr Chris Surnam) DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES 3rd floor, The Atrium 168 St George’s Tce, Perth WA 6000 Note that the information contained within this report have been gathered from literature and through consultations and are not necessarily the view of the Department of Fisheries Figures 4.1 to 4.68 were adapted from: A flora and vegetation survey of the Houtman Abrolhos, Western Australia, published in the Department of Conservation and Land Management’s CALMScience. Inventory of the Land Conservation Values of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...............................................................................................................v-vi 1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................1 A Brief Overview ........................................................................................................................1 Policy Directives .........................................................................................................................1 Objective of the Draft Review ....................................................................................................2 2. METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................................3 2.1 Information/Data Gathering..............................................................................................3 2.2 Mapping and Interpretation of Information......................................................................3 2.3 Statement of Conservation Value......................................................................................4 3. FUTURE MANAGEMENT PLANNING..................................................................................5 4. CONSERVATION FEATURES ..................................................................................................6 4.1 Geology and Geomorphology...........................................................................................7 4.1.1 General ................................................................................................................7 4.2 Birds ..................................................................................................................................8 4.2.1 General ................................................................................................................8 Seabird breeding schedules and locations ........................................................................9 4.2.2 Management Considerations.............................................................................10 4.3 Mammals & Reptiles ......................................................................................................11 4.3.1 Terrestrial Mammals..........................................................................................11 4.3.2 Marine Mammals...............................................................................................12 4.3.3 Reptiles ..............................................................................................................13 4.3.3.1 General...............................................................................................13 4.4 Flora ................................................................................................................................14 4.4.1 General ..............................................................................................................14 4.4.2 Priority Flora ....................................................................................................14 4.4.3 Vegetation communities of special conservation interest..................................15 4.5 Fire, Introduced Flora and Fauna....................................................................................16 4.5.1 General ..............................................................................................................16 4.6 Historic and Cultural Sites..............................................................................................17 4.6.1 General ..............................................................................................................17 5. SPECIFIC ISLANDS................................................................................................................20 5.1 General ............................................................................................................................20 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................................................21-22 OTHER RELATED READINGS........................................................................................................22 Inventory of the Land Conservation Values of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands iii Table of Contents FIGURES.............................................................................................................................................23 Figure 1 Island Groups of the Houtman Abrolhos Island System.................................23 Figure 2 Map of Long Island showing the locations of seven tidal ponds ...................24 Figures Location of major seabird breeding colonies, sea lion breeding 3a to 3d areas haul-out sites for: 3a North Island...........................................................................................25 3b Wallabi Group .......................................................................................26 3c Easter Group..........................................................................................27 3d Pelsaert Group.......................................................................................28 Figures Significant vegetation communities of the Abrolhos Islands 4.1 to 4.68 (Abrolhos Islands Consultative Council, 1989).........................................29-74 Figure 5 Location of historic sites, guano mined areas and guano 5a to 5c mining rail/tram lines of the Abrolhos Islands (Abrolhos Islands Consultative Council, 1989): 5a Wallabi Group .......................................................................................75 5b Easter Group..........................................................................................76 5c Pelsaert Group.......................................................................................77 APPENDICES .....................................................................................................................................75 Appendix A List of stakeholders consulted during the preparation of this report. .............79 Appendix B Summary table of conservation features of the Abrolhos Islands, including flora and fauna – their location, conservation significance, management implications, land access, and the source of the information on the feature. ........................................................80 Appendix C List of islands in the Houtman Abrolhos, and seabirds recorded breeding on them (Appendix 1 in Fuller and Burbidge, 1994).....................113 Appendix D Breeding chronology of 14 seabirds which breed in the Pelsaert Group (Surman, 1998)...................................................................................119 Appendix E ‘Code of conduct’ for human visitation to Houtman Abrolhos seabird breeding colonies (Abrolhos Islands Consultative Council, 1995). ..............................................................................................120 Appendix F Summary of ‘Guidelines for Managing Visitation to Seabird Breeding Islands’ (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, 1997).............................................................................................122 Appendix G List of vascular plants found on the Wallabi Group of the Abrolhos islands, showing occurrence on each island..................................124 Appendix H ‘Code of conduct’ for visitors to Historical Sites at the Abrolhos Islands (Abrolhos Islands Consultative Council, 1995)................................145 FISHERIES MANAGEMENT PAPERS ..........................................................................................148 iv Inventory of the Land Conservation Values of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands Executive Summary EXECUTIVE SUMMARY There is growing pressure for increased development on the Houtman Abrolhos Islands (Abrolhos Islands). The number and variety of users of the islands is likely to increase in the coming years, particularly in light of the recently released Aquaculture Plan for the Houtman Abrolhos Islands (Fisheries Management Paper No. 137, Fisheries WA, 2000) and the Sustainable Tourism Plan for the Houtman Abrolhos Islands (Fisheries Management Paper No. 146, Fisheries WA, 2001). The terrestrial
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